I Tell Stories
I Tell Stories Podcast covers a wide range of topics discussed by Colt Draine and Owen "The Mic" McMichael. From the scourge on humanity of violent business hippies and Scott Baio to peculiar Serbian Mother's Day traditions,the boys offer their unique perspective. Revolutionary artists,legends of folklore and bizzare following of fast food items are just a few of the subjects touched on. I Tell Stories aims to bring attention to individuals and occerrences that are too interesting to be forgotten. Two long time friends who keep each other laughing give listeners their take on the world. Everyone has a story, these are ours and those of many others.
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I Tell Stories
Tenino Washington: Wood Rules Everything Around Me?
ah boy hola, how's this day going for you, my friend, on this very I tell stories. Uh well, would it be afternoon that we're recording?
Speaker 1:I believe it is yeah we're now. It is 1 22 in the pm mountain standard time all right.
Speaker 2:Well, now we know for sure. Now we know you randomly found this, like you always do, and it's about a town called Tenino Washington, I feel is how you say it Tenino.
Speaker 1:Tenino From what my friend Mika, friend of the show I'm not sure if she's actually listened yet, but we'll give her crap about that, I'll probably see her today but I mentioned that we were going to do this and she said how do you know? I think I just said, uh, Tinino, and she's like how do you know? It's Tinino, that's where my dad's from, I believe. Oh, and she's like it is, there's nothing there. There's nothing there. And um, incidentally, well, a lot of us learned at a young age from Wu-Tang Cash rules everything. Yeah, tenino had its own currency and you know we're all familiar Cheddar, scratch, strilla, bread, paper, loot, coin, the fabrics, cabbage, dead presidents Never heard bark tree pulp or wood chips. No Well, in 1931 or 2020, tonight in Washington, those terms would be more appropriate, as they had wooden currency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's amazing. Began in the Great Depression, did it not? 1931, like you said, during the Great Depression tonight, I know, faced a severe economic downturn, like most the US, obviously, at the time. Thus the Great Depression and a local bank collapse, leaving many of his residents without access to any cash at all. Basically, even you know, if they had it I'm assuming you know this may be before the days where your money was insured, right?
Speaker 1:That's my thought yeah, I think there's something about there was to be a payout, but who knows how long it would take, and it was a small enough community that they could, so they could still provide one another with goods and services. This would be accepted currency and then, when the payout did finally go through, it would turn into real money. From my understanding, yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:It seems like that's the same principle they had here in 2020, not to deviate too much. But what I read was is they were, when they reintroduced this wooden currency during the pandemic same thing, you know, like people are falling on hard times. And this is a small community. Uh, I think when I looked at its population, it was like 1970, as of like 2022 or something like that, so it's a pretty small town, and they got a grant of sorts, or that's what they called it, and so the shops that approved the currency would just kind of turn it into the city hall or whatnot and be reimbursed.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I didn't see anything, though, where I was interested on. I wonder how they gave change or what would go on there, because I'm assuming maybe it's one of those deals like for those of us who are old enough for one and for two have ever been in this situation where when they used to give you paper booklets for food stamps, you know they would have different denominations in there, but if you gave them so much they would give you some change back, you know, at times, so that's a thing. And then on the other end of that stick, then it would just be what it was like. You know, maybe some places didn't and you bought $19 worth of food. While you're out your buck they don't have a dollar food coupon for you to give back. You know, so it's. I don't know. That's very interesting. I didn't really think about that. Yeah, sorry for bringing that up.
Speaker 1:And then it caught on.
Speaker 2:Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, the news spread to Seattle and soon collectors were uh, even, you know, traveling or writing at least to to 90, asking for pieces of the unique wooden currency. And it's like by the end of uh 19 or in the 1933, by the end of them printing the word or I don't know if printing isn't right, it's like making the wooden money, they'd produced 10,000 worth, which again lots of money, in fact, still a lot of money to me, but lots of money back then, especially, oh yeah, and only $40 was ever redeemed. And so a lot of these notes, wooden notes, are still in people's collections and worth quite a bit. I remember when I first saw this, I was looking on Amazon at both the 2020 stuff and then obviously it'd be way cooler to have the original and I don't remember exactly, but I didn't purchase any. Yeah, it's like market price when you see that on a menu, like generally, it means yeah, no, yeah, no, thanks, like I don't know what it is, but I know I can't afford it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it would be cool to have some Some currency from Tanino.
Speaker 2:Yes, it makes me feel like we should print our own Shantyplex currency For our sovereign nation of sorts. Maybe that's something we could do in the future. The wooden bills were made of thin sheets of cedar and were printed using a local newspaper's printing press.
Speaker 1:To answer some of those questions, I guess you didn't have to print it. This is my first go at wooden currency. People Forgive me, I'm ignorant.
Speaker 2:Well, you think they'd carve it in. Is that what you're kind of thinking? I mean, maybe I don't know it's 1931.
Speaker 1:I don't know what's going on in the Pacific Northwest. There's a squashed stomp on it until it looks correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's how we press our coins.
Speaker 2:Oh good, anyway, nonetheless. Yeah, the comments from the local officials. It's just kind of whatever. These are the older ones, not from the 2020. But just later on they look back and say it was a desperate time and the wooden money gave people a way to continue their lives, remarked a historian from Tenino they didn't give his name, it was in the buzzfeed article. I read one of them, the other that I got a lot of my information from was actually a cnn one as well, so those are okay two of my sources.
Speaker 2:yeah, so the wooden currency was kind of a symbol of resilience as well. So, like you said, only forty dollars was redeemed during that time as well. So, like you said, only $40 was redeemed during that time. But you know, over the years, tonight knows wooden money is just been a historic symbol of innovation during tough times. You know, for those of us who have heard of it, and now me as well as hopefully everybody out there who listens in podcast landia, thanks to our friend here on the McMichael and his friend Tamika All right guys. So you know, nonetheless, this is it is it's like I like it because a community came together and figured out a solution in a tough time. And it seems to me that if you're willing to do this with this wooden currency, you're putting a lot of faith in the people around you. I would think you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's pretty neat.
Speaker 1:And they could continue their way of life. Pretty much. It sounded like you know, rather than just having everything taken away from you overnight almost.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no shit. Yeah, these Tenino folks. What would they be? Teninans, teninites, I don't know, but they're smart Teninans.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I don't know, tenino, but they're smart I don't know yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh hey, there you go, see, I don't know. These guys are smart, though Nonetheless, small town Resilience, they say Owen, ouch Shit, I hit the microphone. Sorry about that, guys. That happens from time to time because we play it loose fast and furious over here at ITS headquarters northwest, you know, we have our Montana branch as well, where Mr McMichael is at this point in time, and Boogie, of course, his co-host of sorts, or his producer. What would you call Boogie when it comes to the show of the dog, the pit bull, mr Lynch?
Speaker 2:Ed Blue Dog in charge, ed Blue Dog in charge, just overseer. He's the ultimate overseer, nonetheless. Hey, you know, tenino was actually founded back in the 1800s, late 1800s, and it was for, well, 1850s. They say Tenino's founding 1850s to 1870s, so you pick, I guess. But it was actually established because of the Northern Pacific Railway and then also it became more of a town of sorts because they had a sandstone quarry there. So that's what's in, the logging industry, of course, being in the PNW with the Squatches and such and aliens and serial killers of sorts, they had the logging industry going and that's kind of what made this town possible before the depression. What happened, uh, after the depression and in in the 50s, is the sandstone quarry. You know they didn't need it no more. You know people didn't need to build pyramids, apparently or whatever.
Speaker 2:They're using the sandstone for owen and, uh, they so like the pyramids and yeah, northwest right and so now, but this has turned into one of their main attractions, which lots of pyramids in the Pacific Northwest right and so now but this has turned into one of their main attractions, which they converted the sandstone quarry in the 1950s to the 9-0 quarry pool and it's actually their public swimming pool and it's actually really fucking cool looking actually, actually, guys whatever so did you get to take a look at the picture I sent you of it?
Speaker 2:I did. Yeah, that looks great. Yeah, it's really neat looking. It's oddly square in a very beautiful landscape. It's kind of interesting in that way. So tonight.
Speaker 1:I'm hoping there are no plans to replicate it in the pit in Butte, probably not, because that would go poorly, because everybody would die.
Speaker 2:You know, they actually paid you.
Speaker 1:Sorry, people Montana.
Speaker 2:Right Butte is Was once the richest city In the country. Oh and was.
Speaker 1:West of the Mississippi, oh was that it? Oh, thank you. Yeah, yeah, fact checking. But then once they, you know, got all the minerals they could out of the land. Now the Berkeley pit Is just a giant like poisonous deal. So sorry if people don't get my Montana humor. A few listening, I know well.
Speaker 2:Well, there was a major copper mine there, and copper in those days especially when they were first first running telephone cable and stuff and like whatever that transatlantic cable is and stuff of that nature, that's what made it such a boomtown. But they used a lot of deadly chemicals to mine this out. I don't know how they tried to fix it, but they ended up with a big-ass fucking lake where a lot of the shit was dug out and it's very toxic, poisonous to everything around it, and they, they, they will pay people to uh shoot at the birds like the eagles and stuff that attempt to land on the lake with like plastic pellets of sorts. So that way they because, yeah, I didn't see some of that. Yeah, that's pretty weird.
Speaker 1:So sorry for starting this beaut tangent.
Speaker 2:Well, beaut is the armpit of America. I'm pretty sure I don't know. You know that's. Anyway, sorry anybody who was born there and made it out. You went through a lot and you've done enough. They should give you a retirement plan.
Speaker 1:MC Straight Budge God rest, god rest.
Speaker 2:Yes indeed, dang, I didn't know Straight Budge was from Butte. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think. Anyway, I think he was born in Atlanta and lived in Annas, anyway, yeah, Nonetheless, Tenino sounds like a much nicer place to go swimming than Butte. We'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like this Tenino thing. It is a good story and, like I said, community is a big deal. Guys out there, you know most people have some sense of community, but I don't know, depending on where you're at, maybe you really don't, you know, but I wish I would have grew up in a place that had more of a sense of community. Personally, sometimes, when I get in certain situations Because it is, it's everything and I love, like they said, the resilience, and building their pool out of that sandstone quarry, I feel, is just another example of it, and that's why I felt like. I felt like I'd added in. So that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hadn't seen anything about that, so yeah, I used to go visit, and then when there's, like that, bug in, the swimming hole, Right?
Speaker 2:Um, I don't know. Hey, well, just you know, since we, you know, this is the only time I ever talk to you on the phone, I'm going to waste everybody's time and look it up from see how far it is from me. So hour and 30 minutes, bro, you come up here. We're going to Tenino, Tell uh All right.
Speaker 2:Tell Tamika to get a hold of her dad. If he still lives there, we'll go have lunch, I don't know. Nonetheless, hey, I thought you would think this is fun, since this is such a great story and I do love how they brought it back in 2020 as well, and it seemed that it worked very similar to how they had it back in during the great depression, but there's been a lot of other things throughout time that have been used as currency ellen. Did you know that, besides metal, and you know, yeah, okay, so salts, one like weed, well, weed, yes, anyway, okay, yes, it has been used. I've used it like this as well salt has salt oh, and salt has been used.
Speaker 2:I've used it like this as well Salt has Salt. Oh, and salt has been used as currency. Just get your head right, god. I miss fucking cannabis always, yeah, but no, salt has been famously used as a form of currency since ancient times. So Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Isn't that kind of crazy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it was a huge thing with sharing food and just food in general.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Life Spices were used as currency, I believe, or at least worse, a lot more. Oh my God, Saffron still, I believe, was more my weight than gold.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's something I was not aware of. By the way, no saffron, really. I don't even know if I've had saffron I'm sure I have, but I don't know.
Speaker 1:Hey, you've had risotto, I don't know, and you've certainly had saffron.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I don't know if I've had that, I don't know if I can pronounce it either. My friend this one. I felt like you'd especially.
Speaker 1:Rice from Milan in American talk. Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 2:Fair enough, fair enough. So, hey, you know what? That's funny because this almost connects to the next currency I was going to read off, which is just like a side shoot. Guys, owen didn't know nothing about this. So the second one I was going to read off is squirrel pelts, and that seems like that Caramelone.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, in Finland the word raha refers to money. Hundreds of years ago, however, during the medieval era, the word meant squirrel fur, which could be interpreted as other things as well, I think, I don't know, but yeah, so the pelts were actually the standard form of currency in Finland, and so when you had to make change if everybody's wondering what would happen you'd lop off a paw Stuff like that. That's pretty morbid. No, it's a thing. Well, I mean, they're already dead, I guess. But yeah, squirrel pelts, which is funny and it was used in Finland and Russia Both those are the ones that was their major form of currency at one point in time was squirrel pelts. So now you all know, I hope everybody feels a little bit better. The other one this is another one I want to make, michael, that you may find interesting. My friend right here on, I Tell Stories which you can buy shirts from us at pitlocksupplycom Just letting you know, guys. So anyway, cheese bro yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, in Italy Some like cheese, but I like cheddar.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Yeah, hey, there you go. Thank you, nicotina, for that line and Owen for remembering it. I love that line myself, my friend. In Italy there has been a long tradition of using large wheels of Parmesan cheese as currency.
Speaker 1:Did you know that I love Italy even more now?
Speaker 2:I didn't know it was possible, but we might have to do an episode on that.
Speaker 1:The practice goes.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, the practice goes back to the Middle Ages. And, yeah, a single wheel of Parmesan requires around 125 gallons of milk to make. Did you know that, owen? I didn't, I did not. Yeah, and the cheese matures for at least 12 months, so, and then I guess some Parmesans are aged different, like up to four years, and they are incredibly valuable. I kind of figured that. And after the Second World War, when Italy was experiencing a recession, because you know, they were on the wrong side of the tracks there, thank you Stalin, they practiced.
Speaker 1:Mussolini.
Speaker 2:Oh Mussolini. Well, that's stupidini. Well, either way, thank you Mussolini. No, russell is fighting on the side of the little history lesson here I love when I get shit wrong and I love when you fucking remember it to be honest, because it's a very obvious one.
Speaker 2:My head's all like I was kind of reading my notes here as I went, and then I'm looking at the Second World War and just all this stuff, and just anyway. Nonetheless, my friend, when Italy was experiencing a recession, the practice of using wheels of cheese eased the financial situation, especially for cheesemakers. Yeah, today, credito Emiliano Bank owns two warehouses full of Parmesan cheese wheels. Almost half a million wheels of cheese are stored there, with a total value of almost $200 million. All right, damn Dang. I don't know how often I went dang. I thought you'd like that one, though, and I didn't even look at some of the other stuff. Yeah, the other stuff, the one I'm just going to look and find the most interesting one that I can find before we probably call it a day here, and that would actually be dolphin teeth. So apparently, dolphin teeth were so yeah, oh teeth.
Speaker 1:I thought you said dolphin pee at first.
Speaker 2:Oh gross.
Speaker 1:I would say not to have that. And then how would you do that? I don't know. I was not willing to ponder on it too much. I just thought well, that's fucking terrible Teeth. All right, that's much better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is, depending on if you're a dolphin or not and if you're alive, all these things. The use of dolphin teeth as a form of currency in the Solomon Islands is a practice that dates back hundreds of years and is still in use today, so that's kind of weird and this all has to do with global recessions.
Speaker 2:That's kind of what it touches on down here at the bottom is that they replaced their currency because the dollar and the euro went down during a recession and they started using these dolphin teeth again. Why? How weird are we humans? I don't even know.
Speaker 1:How bizarre.
Speaker 2:How bizarre, god rest. How bizarre guy yes, from somewhere I can. How bizarre guy Yep, yes, from uh, somewhere. I can't remember where they're from now.
Speaker 1:Fuck, I think it was like New Zealand or something.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's it. It's the one I can never fucking remember man, man, man man Speaking of man. Okay, hey, anyway. So like yeah, this was a fun episode. I like it Shout out to Tenino Good job guys.
Speaker 1:Much love Tenino, yeah, Much love Planetos.
Speaker 2:On that note, yeah, everybody, have a good day. So that was the much love everybody. What more do you need?
